Gambling tycoon’s empire at risk thanks to bizarre family tree

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Mr Ho was born in Hong Kong, where polygamy remained legal until 1971.

Over the years, he fathered 17 children with four women he referred to as his “wives” — Clementina Leitao, who died in 2004, Lucina Laam, Ina Chan and Angela Leong.

Recently, his children from second wife Lucina made an alliance with a group of shareholders from Hong Kong’s powerful Fok dynasty, meaning they now control the board of the company as they have the voting majority.

The move comes right as the company prepares a bid to renew its casino licence — which will expire in March 2020 — to allow it to remain operating in the lucrative region.

According to Bloomberg, Stanley Ho and Lucina Laam’s daughter Daisy Ho, who is now SJM chair, announced the new alliance late last month.

Stanley Ho and his wife pictured in Hong Kong in 2003. Picture: SuppliedSource:AFP

“The shareholders in the alliance all possess irreplaceable goodwill, accumulated through prolonged understanding and exposure in various industry sectors in Macau and mainland China,” she said in a subsequent interview.

“Together with Timothy Fok, who is co-chairman of SJM, we can leverage and apply these resources to further develop SJM’s competitiveness to pursue the new gaming concession.”

The stakes are especially high at the moment for two main reasons — firstly, because new players in the gambling industry have muscled in on SJM’s territory over the years, stealing away clients — and money and power.

Pansy Ho is now one of the Ho family’s most powerful players. Picture: Triple Eight Vision/Corbis via Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

And secondly, because there have been increased tensions within the sprawling family itself in recent years, dating back to 2011 when a public spat over the Ho family wealth erupted, which resulted in much of it being divided up.

And last month, nephew Michael Hotung caused further headaches for the ageing tycoon after suing his uncle and claiming he was owed $360 million in shares dividends.

While at the moment Lucina’s children — especially “key Macau players” Daisy, Pansy and Lawrence — seem to hold all the cards, questions remain regarding how Mr Ho’s other surviving wives and their children could upset the apple cart.

Lawrence Ho previously had a partnership with Aussie billionaire James Packer and is now CEO of Hong Kong entertainment group Melco International Development Ltd.

Daisy Ho is the chairman and executive director of SJM Holdings as well as the CFO of Shun Tak Holdings, while sister Pansy, a former TV actress, took over as Shun Tak chairman after her father’s retirement in 2017.

Fourth wife Angela Leong — a dance instructor-turned-real estate magnate who also serves as SJM co-chair and as a Macau legislator — is considered to be a particular potential threat, although nobody has confirmed what role she will play in the company’s future.

“The other parties involved, Angela Leong in particular, also have a lot of interests and a lot of influences in Macau,” analyst Vitaly Umansky told Bloomberg.

“My biggest concern is that does this create a situation at the company and at the board that leads to a lot of infighting and that leads to things being delayed and operations of the business not performing as they should?”